Sometimes I wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and say, “What happened?” It’s like disaster struck as I slept, wreaking havoc on my face and turning my hair into a tangled mess. My reflection doesn’t hesitate to talk back. “You got some work to do, sweetheart.”

It reminds me of a story my husband told me. Back when he was a teen, he and his cohorts decided to decorate a friend’s face with marker as he slept. Once they completed their masterpiece, they woke their friend and drove off to the local fast food joint. Met with unusual stares and amused glances, the friend made his way to the restroom. The whole place fell silent as a terrified scream filled the air. He had seen his reflection. And it wasn’t funny. At least, not to him.

Mirrors have a way of revealing our blind spots. In them, we see what’s out of place and what might need some fixing up. As for my husband’s friend, the mirror showed him a face that needed a good washing.

In my blog post The Get Up Call, I talked about how current events expose just how messed up our world is, and just how much we as individuals need change. News headlines have become like a mirror, revealing how desperately our hearts need transformation. In a world rife with violence, racism, terrorism, and more, we’re awakened to the reality of our need for change.

Now, when the guy with the markered-up face saw his reflection, do you think he tried to use the mirror to clean his face? Um, no. He went straight for the water. Only water has the power to make us clean.

God’s Word—the Bible, is a mirror. In it, we see how far we’ve fallen away from the standard of perfect love. But the mirror is not what cleanses us. Instead, it leads us to the water.

The mirror speaks. In this crazy world, we need a rescuer. Jesus came to be that rescuer, and he is the water that makes us clean.